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"Eclipsed" by Danai Gurira, at Unicorn Theatre in 2017. (Photo by Manon Halliburton)

Unicorn Theatre Announces 2017-18 Season of New Plays

The season will include works by Jaclyn Backhaus, Ayad Akhtar, Aaron Poser, Qui Nguyen, Taylor Mac, and more.

KANSAS CITY, MO.: Unicorn Theatre has announced its 2017-18 season, featuring seven new plays and a yet-to-be announced world premiere.

The season will start with Jaclyn Backhaus’s Men On Boats (Sept. 6-Oct. 1), a coproduction with University of Missouri—Kansas City Theatre, which follows ten explorers as they traverse the Colorado River in a 1869 expedition with an all-female cast.

Next up will be Disgraced (Oct. 18-Nov. 12), by Ayad Akhtar, about a dinner party that goes awry when a civil conversation turns to a heated debate about culture and politics.

Following will be Aaron Posner’s Stupid Fucking Bird (Nov. 29-Dec. 23), a reimagining of Chekov’s The Seagull, which intertwines two generations both looking for love and purpose.

The season will continue with Lee Blessing’s Chesapeake (Dec. 19-Jan. 7, 2018), about a performance artist who steals a politician’s dog for an art project during his re-election campaign.

Next up will be a world premiere (Jan. 24-Feb. 18, 2018), which is yet to be announced.

Following will be Informed Consent (March 7-April 1, 2018), by Deborah Zoe Laufer, about a genetic anthropologist who researches the genes of an isolated Native American tribe with the hopes of preventing her daughter from developing early-onset Alzheimer’s.

Next up will be Qui Nguyen’s Vietgone (April 18-May 13, 2018), a retelling of Nguyen’s parents’ love story  that began in an Arkansas refugee camp in 1975, told through a hip-hop and pop culture lens.

The season will close out with Taylor Mac’s Hir (May 30-June 24, 2018), about a soldier who returns home to find his sister is now his brother, his father has suffered a stroke, and his mother has been liberated from her marital duties.

Unicorn Theatre, founded in 1974, is committed to developing and producing new, provocative plays.

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